Chess Study Tools: Status Report

I am writing some programs to help me study chess. In the last few months I have been working steadily on creating a program to write out an ebook based on an input pgn file. This was to allow the bulk of writing of chess books in a chess program by annotating moves and exporting the games to a pgn file, and also to create an means to easily review a set of games filtered from a chess database.

I have completed a prototype and have ironed out the most egregious bugs. The idea was to present each game as a chapter and each move as a position.  In an ebook a chess diagram using a chess font does not take up a lot of space, unlike a paper book. The font needs a lot of work.

I successfully used this on a recent vacation to review a bunch of games without using a chess set, just my tablet.

Here is a sample of Ruy Lopez games filtered on Kaufman's Repertoire for Black (2012) as I understand it.

US Open 2013

I did alright with a score of 5 out of 9 (3+2-4=). I basically played at my rated strength with a gain of 11 points. The field was very full of class A and Expert players. There were lots of young players. I ran into better opening preparation in two games. I did not take proper advantage of an inexact move order with one of my opponents, but gathered a better understanding of some King's Indian structures from that game.

I have a lot of material to go through. Two of my wins were against much lower rated players, and the other seven games were against experts. I think there is a lot of good learning material in those games.

As usual, I was head down in my games, and did not get too look at the top boards.

Tabiya: Italian Game for Black

Kaufman recommends the Giuoco Piano rather than the Two Knights gambit. His lines run deeper than the three tabiya I will present here, as these positions are for searching for master games from TWIC weekly set. Giuoco Piano is Italian for quiet game. It is quieter than the Two Knights, but I think it a bit of a misnomer.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 is the Giuoco Piano. Like most open games, black will try to preserve a pawn on e5 and inhibit white from playing d4. Black gets his dark square bishop out of the coming pawn chain immediately. Also, it allows black to castle short immediately after playing ...Nf6 to protect f7.

First is the Evan's Gambit. A solid gambit, but black should be able to equalize. The usual idea of taking the gambit and returning the pawn at the right moment works, but Kaufman recommends a line where black tries to hold onto the pawn. 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.O-O Bb6

Black will support the e5 pawn with f7-f6, develop his Ng8-e7, and castle long after unwinding his queenside. The awkward placement of the Qd7 is necessary to guard f7 and to be able to retake on c6 with the queen rather than the pawn if white plays Bb5 and Bxc6. Unwinding ideas are Na5 to take the Bc4, Qc6, and Be6 or Bg4.

The mainline is 4.c3 to support a d4 push, but White can transpose to the Italian Four Knights or castle and play a risky gambit. This is difused by 4.O-O Nf6 5.d4 Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.f4 d6 8.fxe5 dxe5 9.Bg5 Qe7.

There are two approaches white can take after 4.c3 Nf6. He can strike at the center with 5.d4 or play the Giuoco Pianissimo 5.d3 O-O 6.O-O d6.

This is the line played most by masters these days. Like the d3 Ruy lines, white still plans to play d4 later after some preparatory moves. Unlike the Ruy, black has not made the weakening/space gaining pawn moves on the queenside. Black can make use of these moves to develop, which white will use to guide his plans, which center around the possibility of a kingside attack with pieces.

The old mainline is still played, but it is heavily analyzed.. 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Nbxd2 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5.

We have an isolani game with all the normal imbalances.

Columbus Open 2013

I did very well (2+1-2=) and gained another CM norm. I was even (1+1-1=) against masters again, but they were higher rated than last year. I beat a strong expert, and was lucky to draw against a class A player in the last round. The master I beat in the first round reentered and tied for first (8 way tie). The master I drew also tied for first.

Most important is that all of my games have lessons for me.

I have decided that I need to record my opponents clock as well as mine, especially against masters. I need to make note of when they think a long time and when they do not, and then to figure out why.

Tabiya: White vs Black London (Zukertort with 2...Bf5)

I am shifting from the 1.e4 e5 black Tabiya for this week, because I run into black playing a London formation a lot, and I wanted to refresh it.

My general move order 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 avoids the Catalan Benoni and several other annoying defenses to 1.d4. It does require me to have symmetric English lines, and allows black to play 2...Bf5 and get a London formation. A move order Capablanca use a lot (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3) presents black the same opportunity.

Black wants to get his bishop outside the pawn chain, but this is double edged. Whichever side of the d5-e6-f7 pawn chain the bishop is on causes problems for black. With the bishop on the outside, the b7 square is weak.

I will strike immediately with 3.c4, as the Bf5 is not well situated for accepting the gambit, black should reply with 3...e6, and I can strike with 4.Qb3. (4.Nc3 c6 5.Qb3 Qb6 allows black a more "normal" game)

Currently, black's best response here is 4...Nc6, as 4...dxc4 is met by 5.Qxb7 and black must reply Nd7, which is not where he wants the knight with his queenside pawns askew. 5.Bd2 continues the mainline, keeping the central tension and keeping control of b4. This position will be my tabiya:

Black has two main moves here. 5...Rb8 and 5...dxc4, and I want to track master games with both moves.

Chess Tactics Server--new feature.

My favorite site for tactics work has a new feature. You can select a rating for it to present problems. This means you really can just ignore the rating the site gives you and work on the tactics level you need.

I am working on automatically seeing patterns, so I have set mine at 1500, and I am getting more patterns that I am not seeing automatically, than if it went off my 1350 tactics rating.

Tabiya Italian and Spanish Four Knights

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 is the rarely played (at master level) Italian Four Knights. If black plays 4...Bc5 the game transposes to the Guioco Pianissimo, but black has a better move with the fork trick 4..Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3 and here Kaufman recommends the novelty and gambit 6...Nb4 looking at 7.Ng3 e4 8.Bxe4  dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bf5 with compensation for the pawn. I will place my tabiya for this variation after the novelty 6...Nb4 and look for any games in this line.

The more likely Spanish Four Knights is reached after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 where Kaufman recommends 4...Bc5 and welcomes the fork trick. 5.O-O O-O 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 8.f4 ( 8.dxe5 Bxe5 and black is fine with the half open e-file) 8...Ng4 9.e5 Be7 10.Be2 d6 11.exf6 Nxf6.

White's f-pawn is in the way of his dark square bishop and at risk of over extending.